More Photos Awards

View Best Sellers   Release Date: Q2 2006 Released For: Verizon Wireless - Discontinued Released for Verizon Wireless, the LG VX8300 offers music-on-demand capability to download songs playable on the integrated MP3 player. Built with dual speakers, the VX8300 offers stereo sound in an open air environment, or private listening through Bluetooth enabled stereo headsets. For imaging, the VX8300 also features a 1.3-megapixel camera/video recorder. Its EV-DO and mobile Web capability go hand in hand to make the phone a high-speed portal to the Internet. The VX8300's advanced voice recognition combines with other features like Simultaneous GPS to provide end users with new and interesting capabilities... [Continue reading LG VX8300 Review]

• Installed with Verizon Wireless' new new customizable Flash-based user interface and themes
• Dual speakers for MP3 stereo sound and full-duplex speakerphone functionality
• Bluetooth compatible with devices that support the headset and hands-free profiles including DUN (Dial-Up Networking), OPP (OBEX Object Push), A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution) profile for wireless music listening
• Integrated GPS navigation through Verizon Wireless' VZ Navigator
• MicroSD external memory port to store pictures, videos, sounds and music
• WAP 2.0 compliant browser with EV-DO for high-speed data transmission including VCAST video and music on-demand

Technical Specifications
Network:	CDMA 800 / 1900
Form Factor:	Clamshell
Dimensions:	91 x 48 x 25 mm
Weight:	111 g
Antenna:	Stub
Navigation:	5-Way Keypad
Battery Type:	1100 mAh Li-Ion
Talk Time:	3.83
Standby Time:	384
Memory:	28.0 MB
Expandable Memory:	microSD / TransFlash
Imaging
Main Screen:	262000 colors (TFT) 176 x 220 px
External Screen:	65000 colors (OLED) 96 x 96 px
Camera:	1.3 MP / 1280 x 960 px / Flash / 4X Zoom / Self-Timer / Video Recorder
Audio
MP3 Player:	VCAST Music
FM Radio:
Speakerphone:
Push-To-Talk:
Multimedia
Wallpapers:	176 x 220 px
Screen Savers:	176 x 220 px
Ring Tones:	72 chord / MP3
Themes:
Games:	BREW / 3D Gaming
Streaming Multimedia:	VCAST
Messaging
SMS:
EMS:
MMS:
Email:
Chat:	AOL / MSN / Yahoo!
Predictive Text:	T9
Applications
Phonebook Capacity:	500
Calendar:
To-Do List:
WAP:	2.0
Voice Commands:
Calculator:
Connectivity
Bluetooth:	A2DP / DUN / OPP
Infrared Port:
High-Speed Data:	cdma2000 1xEV-DO
Wi-Fi:
GPS:	VZ Navigator
PC Sync:
More Information
Website:	LG VX8300 Website
Discussion:	LG Forum

* Compare with other phones side-by-side, or Search by features. We always try to make sure our specs are accurate and complete; however there may be times when information is not known. If you come across any missing details or mistakes, please contact us so we can help other consumers.

Sony Ericsson Z750a	LG enV2 (VX9100)	Samsung Gleam (U700)	Samsung BlackJack II (I617)	Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
AT&T	Verizon Wireless	Verizon Wireless	AT&T	T-Mobile
Free!	$49.99	Free!	Free!	Free!

Faithful Companion

I've had the LG VX3800 for a little over a year and I'm happy to say that no matter after dropping it a million times (literally) it still works for me. The best thing about it, is that you can customize it the way you like, it has MP3, not really since it only plays WMA files but that no big, I don't MP3 files anyways , it has all the basic features; notepad, calc., alarm, world clock, Tip calc., voice commands, games, ringtones, RBTs, text and lot more. Plus, it's a sturdy little guy. Trust me, I've play soccer and hockey with this thing, so I'm surprised it lasts this long. It's not the best phone in the world, but it's very/really good if you're looking for a phone that's not exactly low-end and not exactly high end either, this is perfect for you. Although if you are a music addict like me, using the Vcast on-the-go thing gets very addictive, and over time it does add up. Also has exceptional quality games and graphics, I have over ten games, shame I can't figure out how to get the games onto my external memory, but oh well. If you know how, tell me. Also, it has roughly around 26-28 mb internal memory, its not very much if you don't want to buy an external card for it. You can record sounds, send it to yourself in a text and even save it as a ringtone, take pictures and set it as a wallpaper and you can also record videos and use that as a wallpaper. So to conclude this, you can basically do whatever you want to this thing. BUT, if you're looking for something razor thin, you won't get it from this one, but you will get some irreplacable cell phone experience.

Was this review helpful? ::
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

Won't need a new phone for a long time!

I have had my 8300 for about 2 months now, and I think I have lived with it's feature set long enough to write a fair review. I am coming from a Samsung a670, and alot of tinkering with my girlfriends Cingular RAZR. Just for some background.

UI:
flashUI can be different and cool looking, especially on the front display. However in use for the menu system it is too slow. Very cool looking, but will probably develop better later on. The regular UI themes work very well and are super-responsive. Also they can be customized with multiple colors.

Mp3 Playing:
Mp3 use can be achieved with a minimal and easy workaround you've probably seen above through the security menu. You can then change an option to let the phone go directly to your mp3's when you hold the outside "play/pause" button. Very easy and allows playback, skipping, and volume control without ever opening the phone. The phone does not allow folders in the mp3 folder so all your songs will be lumped together and ordered alphabetically. I renamed my albums with the artist name followed by the song number then title but was quite a hassle. When your playing music and a call comes in the music pauses, you have a conversation, the music resumes. Very sweet! Verizon still has a lock on ringtones. You can send yourself an mp3 and save it as a ringtone, but Verizon automatically converts the file, making it a lower quality version. It sounds ok, but the nice speakers make mp3's sound so nice it is kindof annoying to have a normal phone quality "truetone".

Alarm:
This is a feature I use alot and am extremely happy with this phone for. It has a 5 minute snooze that it automatically uses whenever outside buttons are pressed when the alarm is ringing. This will continue until you open the phone and go down to "dismiss." By far best alarm i have used on a phone. 3 alarms can be set and each can be: one time, m-f, or weekends. This might not be a big deal for some, but has made a world of difference for me.

Buttons:
All four circle buttons around center "OK" button are programmable despite the pictures etched on them, however you cannot program the top two left and right "action buttons" They are stuck on "Messages" and "Contacts" which is ok. The circle buttons can be programmed to "Inbox" but not "Messages" and cannot be programmed to "Notepad" which I previously liked on my old phone. The big "Speakerphone" button in the middle feels like it should be the "CLR" button and will take some getting used to, but will eventually be harmless.

Misc:
Battery life has been great. If you do alot of mp3 listening you will probably be charging it every night. I finally have a phone that lets me make multiple page text messages! The camera is 1.3Mp, but is pictures can be easily blurred when taken. The speakers are pretty nice. Nothing compared to a stereo, but nice none the less. The look and feel of this phone is incredible! Finally a full featured phone with a nice cool gray color and great shape! No bogus "ipod" "slim" or "catchy" look here. Just a great feeling phone that IMO looks better than any on the market.

I absolutely love my phone and am very glad I made the purchase. If I left something out it's probably cause it just plain works and I don't even think about it. I would recommend the LG Stereo Headphones I got on buy.com for cheap as they let this thing really become a mp3 player and allow you to output it to any stereo. I got mine hooked up to my car through a car kit. Can you say, "ultimate speakerphone".

Was this review helpful? ::
182 out of 185 people found this review helpful

LG VX8300

I LOVE MY 8300!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I bought my 8300 about 2 weeks ago, and I LOVE IT !! It feels really nice in my hand, even with the leather case on it. It was very easy to get use to after having a Motorola E815 (also not a bad phone, but I had a few problems with mine).

Reception on the phone is great. Loud and Clear calls. Speakerphone is also good and loud. I have not had any dropped calls either. I like that you can have the phone vibrate (which is very strong) at the same time that is rings. My E815 did not do this, and the vibrate feature felt more like a tiny itch rather than the feeling you get when you hand or foot goes to sleep!

I like being able to record a sound and use it for a ringtone. It is very simple to do. The trick is that when you record the sound, you have to send to yourself in a txt message, and save it as a ringtone. I have not done anything with downloading music yet, so I am not sure how the music sounds on it yet!!

Picture quality is good. It comes in handy to be able to do fun little pictures with, nothing fancy! The flash is nice to have, not needed all the time, but it is nice. You can also download pictures to your phone off of your computer by going to PIX/FLIX messaging on the Verizon site, and send them to yourself in a PIX message form. This is usefull if you do not have the cable to download them directly. It is a phone, so don't expect to get the type of pictures that you could get by using a regular camera.

It does have an alarm. It is GOOFY, but there is one. If you put it on snooze, don't expect for it to be on snooze for more than 5 minutes! If anyone knows how to change this, please let me know!!

The inside screen is nice and clear. The outside screen is also good, it will washout a little in the direct sunlight, and if you have polarized sunglasses, then it is a little tough to see, but not real bad!

As far as the red bar at the top of the screens, you can not make it go away, but you can change the color of it. It does need more animated screensavers though, which I am sure they will add as time goes on. There are not a whole lot of Wallpapers, or screensavers to choose from right now, but you can always get them from the Get It Now, or create them yourself.

The Camera, Volume, and the Voice Command buttons on the side of the phone are not bad to use. They do rest a little flush with the phone, which takes getting use to, but that is ok, especially if you are prone to constantly touching these buttons and turning them on when you don't want them on.

All in all this is a pretty great phone, and I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Was this review helpful? ::
109 out of 113 people found this review helpful

LG VX8300 and Stereo Bluetooth a great combo once its set up

I have been using the LG VX8300 for a month now. For me its not quite perfect but its still very good, at least once I got one issue worked out.

I like to listen to podcasts and I wanted to use a bluetooth headset with a phone/mp3 player. At the moment the LG VX8300 and the motorola Q where the only two Verizon offerings that supported Bluetooth Stereo Headsets and I choose the VX8300.

I had ordered a bluetooth head set, a iTech III from outside of the country and when the phone arrived, I found that it would not play mp3 files only wma's. So I loaded a few into the phone and I paired the phone to the headset. I could place and receive calls with the headset, but the phone would not play music over the head set.

I went into our verizon store and they were no help at all. Told me that the headset was probably not compatable as it was for markets out side the USA. I didn't believe them and I was right! Here's what I found out.

The phone is capable of playing mp3 files, but the factory defaults prevent it. You have to enter into a seacret menu by pushing "menu" and then entering a series of 7 "0"s this gets you into a services menu. From here scroll down to Item "11. mp3's" press "OK" and then select enable mp3"s. Back out to the main menu, go to "get it now" > 1. Get tunes and tones > and then scroll down to 8. My MP3s. If you see "My MP3s" The phone is ready to load and play mp3s. Next you will need to install and format a trans flash card with the phone. And finally transfer your files to the My mp3s folder on the transflash card using a computer.

This is a hassel, but you have to jump through these hoops once to get the phone to work with a headset. And even after this, you can only listen to mp3s and not wma files over the bluetooth headset. The combination works great though! It is worth the hassel. No entagling cords, great sound, and good volume. The phone also has graphic equalizer settings that you can scroll through to adjust the effects. Nice!

I can recommend the itech III headset. It is a clip on Bluetooth dongle with ear buds. You can listen in stereo or detach one bud and just listen in mono. (which works fine for the podcasts that I listen to.) If you shop around the internet, you can find them at a good price out side the US. Mine came from Australia. It cost less than the headsets available here and didn't take long to arrive.

Now the only other complaint I have with the phone is the speech recognition. It Doesn't work nearly as well as it did on my old Motorola v710. But that could just be my speech patern. I've read other reviews who had good results.

I hope this was helpful!

Was this review helpful? ::
169 out of 176 people found this review helpful

Excellent Verizon Phone, Worth the Pay

I bought my phone June 15 and have, so far, no complaints. The phone is stylish and performs regular phone tasks well, as it should, and has many other goodies.

PROS

- Excellent call reception and clearity -
- Pretty good camera -
- Pretty good video clips (15 secs) and 1 hour clips with side storage-
- Speakers are loud and clear -
- You can record a sound, send it to your phone in a pix message, and set it as your ringtone -
- You can e-mail songs (WMA) to your phone as ringtones -
- Phone has alot of storage -
- External MP3 buttons work!!! -
- Different Display themes are nice -
- External and Internal wallpapers can be video clips -
- LONG BATTERY LIFE -

CONS

- None so far -

Was this review helpful? ::
209 out of 218 people found this review helpful

LG VX8300

So I went ahead and did an on-the-spur upgrade on one of my lines the moment I saw this phone go online, and though I gingerly waited for a week for the device to arrive, I feel that wait was well deserved. After pulling the phone out of the box, I could only think, "Attractive." The VX-8300 is an attractive phone, having a more professional look than its older brother, the 8100.

That seems to be a consistent attitude about it. In a less comparative tone, the phone feels comfortable in the hand and is lighter than it seems.

After a baroque activation sequence, I couldn't help but notice that the RF bars were much less than those on my old VX-8000, or the other phones used in my house. Using the phone, however, the bars belies me; where I see 1-2 and my old phone had 2-3 bars, the call quality still came in top-notch and the audio quality is good enough to warrant no complaints. However, you can yourself talk in a digitized echo like a home phone, which lets you know how close you are to the microphone. The other end thinks I talk too loud. I'm wondering if that RF bar takes into account the 1x-RTT frequency too.

The phone starts out with the now-familiar standardized menu system, and before even making and receiving calls, I went to see what options there were in the menus. The standard color pallettes were there with the additional options to change the color of the red bars. There were also two preinstalled flash-based menus, and I settled with the faster and slicker of the two, "Pulse." My chief complaint with the flash menus are not their lack of speed, but the toll it takes on the built-in 26.0 MB of memory. In fact, half of the internal, shared memory is dominated by hese flash files. Though I do hope with a software upgrade, Verizon'll let us use a developer kit to create our own flash-based menus. A boy can dream, right?

The keypad looks amazing and simple, however the placement of the directional keys, the single-press speaker-phone, and the 12-digit keypad is a bit too close, so when I want to press "2" or the down arrow or the clear button, often I turn the speakerphone on. As well, the side keys are too flush with the side, and require an extra oomph or a fingernal to depress, and their positioning is rather awkward to use.

When one manages to press the camera key, it takes slightly less time to load than the 8100; there's also a slight delay when saving a picture. The quality looks great, but not nearly so as the 8000 (but that's as technology is to expect. The 8100/8300 are CMOS chips, and the 8000's a CCD chip). The camera also lacks the flashlight-based flash, something that's good for video clips and camera clips alike (and a novelty to have a flashlight), being replaced with a standard flash. Other problems I've found is that you cannot employ digital zoom on 1280x960 resolution shots. For a camera on a phone, it does it's job rather well.

The screen's are nice, and the internal one doesn't wash out at all in direct sunlight. The external display, however, is seriously reduced in quality, having the same quality (and icons, as well) as the VX-5200 has. The screen is coated with a purple-reflectant layer that washes out in the sun making you have to turn the phone to weird angles. Not being able to read text messages on my front screen anymore's not that important to me, seeing who's calling me or the time of day when I'm outside is.

So I'll cut this short, since I could ramble all day and having said what I want:


* Impressive call quality despite the tricksy RF bars.
* Battery life a vast improvement; in the weekend I had the phone, I've charged it once and on the forth day, no threat of shut-down.
* Internal screen quality and build quality is the same as its predecessors.
* Decent 1.3 CMOS camera.
* More customization with menu styles than other Verizon phones.
* Can e-mail .mp3s as MMS messages and save as ringtones.
* The voice-activated menu system is very intuitive and easy to use without having to train it.
* Can access both the camera and the video-recorder with the external display.
* 99 speed dials AND you can have their name be said by the phone in place of a ringtone. 'Nuf said.


* Side keys are too flush with device and awkwardly placed.
* External display is too much of a reduction in quality and washes out too easy.
* Definitely too tricksy RF bars.
* Flash menus occupy too much internal memory.
* Cannot use the voice recorder to record ringtones.

Things I have not tested out: mp3 player and bluetooth, so we'll find out about that later when I can afford such accessories.

Was this review helpful? ::
367 out of 385 people found this review helpful

Love It!

I went from using a Pocket PC to the 8300 and I love it. I did a lot of research and discovered that some of the other models did not have a calendar or notepad which is important to me. The other thing that sold me was the loud ringer. With my Pocket PC I could not always hear it ring and it was too large to carry. Of course since wanting to have my music with me without having another piece of equipment to carry that sold me too. The play buttons are nice as you don't have to open it up to listen to your music. All in all I'm a happy camper. Especially since I learned how to add my own ringtones.

Oh yes, my husband is very pleased with the phone too as he takes pictures on the job and they are clear enough that he can show his boss what the problem is with a piece of equipment. He is constantly thanking me for doing research and choosing this model.

Was this review helpful? ::
36 out of 38 people found this review helpful

LG VX8300

I upgraded our two Verizon phones about one week ago. I was deciding between three phones, the 8300, the Moto E815 and the Razr v3m.

What won it for the 8300 was:

- Solid build quality - gives me confidence, less worry if one drops it, long lasting. It's simply well put together.

- Ease of use - everything is where it should be and the learning curve is small. Even my gadget-challenged wife has picked it up with ease. She also loves the looks, which encourages her to play with it.

- Phone function - call sound quality is excellent, good phone signal, mp3s sound very good (I'm a Mac guy so I switched the phone from wma to mp3; don't think one can do that on the Razr v3m, and I don't know about the E815), battery life is great.

- The way it feels in my hand. It just fits and I can do everything with one hand.

While the Razr is a great looking phone, the 8300 is no ugly duckling and it fits easily into my pocket. I think the E815 looks a bit long in the tooth.

Finally, much of the research I did pointed to fairly serious problems with the Razr. While at least some of those problems have been fixed by now, I have had terrific success with LG phones (VX4400 and TM510 previously) all along. The E815 has a good reputation.

Frankly, they're all good phones, but for the above reasons, I bought two 8300's.

Farewell!

Was this review helpful? ::
118 out of 127 people found this review helpful

This is the best LG of all!

I have been using LG's for 2 years now with ALLTEL(the LGAX-5550 and the LG AX-5000). I am so glad I switched to Verizon. The VX8300 has everthing a normal person wants in a phone!! Now for the Pros and CONS.

PROS
-Good Reception-
-Awesome 1.3 mp camera-
-video is awesome compared to my last phone(LG AX-5000)-
-mp3 player is great (works with flip closed!)
-video messaging rocks-
-VCAST-
-stereo speakers-
-great price($49.99 buy one get on free this month!!)

CONS-
Not a really big deal but when you set the alarm the notification takes a lot of space up on the front screen. But no big deal I just turn the alarm completely off when I get up.

OVERALL-
-I say after comparing it to my LG AX5000, the RAZR, and the LG Chocolate VX-8500 this kills them all. (YES I DID FIDDLE WITH BOTH MODELS AT THE VERIZON RETAIL STORE)
-Excellent phone for a great price, especially this month, so hurry up and buy it!! Great job Verizon and LG, you have provin yourselves worthy!

Was this review helpful? ::
51 out of 55 people found this review helpful

Much Better than the Razr V3m

I purchased the V3M about 4 months ago thinking that was the last phone I would own for a while.. WRONG!! I had a total of 6 of them fail for different reasons. So I had Verizon swap it out for the LG VX8300.

At first glance it offers a much brighter and sharper screens then the Moto. Its menu speeds are much faster as well. But they slow down some when you choose some of the other themes, but its not that bad. This thing is full of features the V3M wishes it had. For starters, the ability for customization is very high. Battery life is fantastic compared to the Moto. Sound quality is pretty good and ease of use is great. mobile web surfing is much faster as well. Picture quality on its highest resolution isnt bad for a camera phone. the ability to start music with the lid closed is a nice feature! these are just a few of the many things I like about this phone.

so far the only downsides i can see after a couple weeks of having this phone is its larger size. I preffer the profile of the razr or something similar. and learning not to hit the camera/ voice recorder buttons when talking on the phone. pressing these makes it beep at you. But aside from that I cannot think of one bad thing this phone has.

My only wish is I had chosen this phone instead of the V3m to start with..

Was this review helpful? ::
25 out of 27 people found this review helpful

A Great Find!

the vx8300 is a great choice all around. i switched from an entry level moto v265, so naturally a 3g phone seems good to me, but this phone is even more than that. for someone like me, who like's to customize electronics as much as possible, this phone is a godsend. it allows you to change virtually everthing. i basically master phones in a matter of weeks, and yet despite the fact that i have a video backround and episodes of family guy on my sd card, i'm still finding more hidden menu's and features. it's great!! from a practical standpoint, it's got a nice shape and feel, good size screens, and just plain good looks. the only problem i found was that if i didnt lock my phone, the music player accidently turned on in my pocket. it's the same problem with candybar phones, minimized. not much to worry about. anyway, if your considering this phone, stop considering and buy it!!

Was this review helpful? ::
26 out of 29 people found this review helpful

Motorola E815 vs. LG VX8300

This is part of my post about my recently returned Motorola E815 and my newly acquired LG VX8300. I'll add a little more about the VX8300 though:

Let me start by saying this phone impressed me in several ways. I have never used a flip phone before, but I never imagined just how much surface area one could cover with such a small phone. (Yes compared to other flip phones, this is fairly large.) I originally had a SE T610. In its case, these phones are the same size in width, height, and depth. But when you open it, the screen is huge and the keys are very large. It's a nice looking phone too. But best of all... This phone has the best reception I have ever received.

That said, I hated this phone. Motorola makes a very interesting Operating System for their phones. Everything feels backwards to me. I have used Samsung and Sony Eriksson and this was backwards to both of those. I constantly found myself canceling things when I didn't mean to. I found it very unintuitive and frustrating to use. I wanted to learn, but it just didn't seem to flow for me. The final straw was when I was going to right before I went to sleep and when I woke up. I was trying to send a short text to a friend saying "don't worry about it." This should take what, 10 seconds on a phone you know well? Well, this took at least 2-3 minutes or more. I was half asleep so I can't remember. I just remember being frustrated. This is why. On my usual phones you can use t9. I like this "English" texting... I'm used to it. I also know how to use the Abc method where you tap a key a number of times for each character. But, I switched the input from Abc to 123 like 15 times. The space is located on the pound key for most phones I have used. It is on the asterisk on this phone and the pound changes input type. To say the least this is very frustrating, but can definitely be something that you get acclimated to. When I woke up that morning, I had thought I turned my ringer down, but not only did I not turn it down, it was at full volume and blew me away... Unfortunately when I went to turn it off I snoozed it. I called that day to use my 15 day guarantee and switched to the LG VX8300.

I have to say I love the 8300. It has been easy to use, easy to navigate, and exactly what I expected it to be. Some things I like are the ability to set recurrent alarms (I use my phone as my alarm clock and you can't do this with the E815), the ability to change the ringer to silent and alarm only from the left volume switch, the comfortable fit in my hand (I’m a 5'8" man with smaller than average hands ), and this phone is very sleek. It's hot enough to be considered nice to look at and business enough to pull out in the office. It's nice to be able to control music form the outside (if you are someone to do that... Get an ipod, they are better), to have a micro SD slot, a b-e-a-u-tiful screen that takes great pictures with the ability to use flash, and quick access to everything that I need. I really really just find this phone very intuitive. Things are exactly where I expect them to be. I constantly found myself searching for the correct key to hit on the E815. The phone is loud and clear. The reception is unfortunately not nearly as good and clear as the E815, but at 2 bars this gets as good reception as the E815 at 3 or 4 bars. (This was a nice thing to see.) I feel like this phone "thinks" faster. I think it has more RAM or CPU power because Get It Now loads more quickly.

I hate the fact that it doesn't get the amazing reception that the E815 got, but this phone rocks. I am so happy with it. If you are looking at the two and can't decide, ask yourself these questions:

Do I want/need amazing reception?
Do I currently use Motorola or am I already used to it?
Is reception the only thing that really matters?
Do you need a very large colorful screen? (watching vcast movies)
Do you want very large comfortable keys to press?
Do you have fairly large hands?

If you answer yes to these questions then you probably want the E815. Try these ones:

Do I want good reception? (Obviously everyone does)
Do I want intuitive navigating in the phone?
Do I want to be able to play Mp3s?
Am I used to the Verizon navigation OS or most standard navigations?
Do I use my phone as an alarm clock?
Do I want to be able to use the new Navigation systems for directions on the road?
Is a smaller colorful screen ok?

If these answers are yes, then you probably want the VX8300. Basically, it comes down to how much you need amazing reception and how much you want intuition. I personally want a phone that is a phone first, texting machine next, and finally a good alarm. This is why I like this phone. It does what I need and does it so intuitively. (If you don't know what intuitive means, then I'll tell you since I've said it like five times. It basically means things are as you expect or easy to understand because that's how you would of thought about it. Or, in a phone's case, a button was put in the same place that you would have put it had you built the phone.)

Hope this helps.

Was this review helpful? ::
98 out of 110 people found this review helpful

Very SATISFIED.

I`ve had the LG VX8300 ever since June 7,2006 and I must say I am very pleased with it.In my opinion the 8300 is better than the 8100.

+PROS+
-Clear calls.
-Clear pictures.
-Unlike the 8100 you can extend the time limit on a video clip.
-You can record your ringtones,but there`s a catch...you have to record it as a SOUND then send it to your phone in a PIX message then save as ringtone.
-Can change display themes to different colors.
-Speakers are very loud.
-Long standby.
-Call command is pretty intriging.

-CONS-
-You can`t read txt messages on the front display.
-Alarm clock is stupid.
.................That`s all that I can think of right now.

Overall I think that this phone is not a waste of your money.It was a very nice buy in my case and if you buy it as well you will not be discouraged.

Was this review helpful? ::
136 out of 153 people found this review helpful

Outstanding Phone

I choose this phone out of many available to me through work and have not been disapointed. Great phone, easy to use and rugged. I say rugged because I work in a maintenance environment, I'm constantly bumping into machinery, dropping the phone from heights and just generally abusing it and it hasn't missed a beat. Performs as well today as it did 4 months ago, and I've deffinetly put it through the wringer.

Was this review helpful? ::
13 out of 15 people found this review helpful

LG 8300 The flagship of the Verizon Fleet

When cell phone companies release there phones in the year there are many different kinds. Smartphones, music phones, Thing phones. They are all cool in there own way but every year a cell company tries to release one phone. there main phone of the year. At the begining of this year the big deal was that Verizon had finally gotten the rights to make the Razor and they did but not before upgrading it. It was nice. Better camera, vcast and a little later a music player. It was going to be there flagship of the year and to its credit did a pretty nice job with what it had to work with. But there was one phone that did better. When the LG vx8300 was released it was mainly suposed to be a upgrade of the 8100. With just a better music player and navigation. they also changed the style of the phone. There wasn't much advertising as the razr was there big deal right now. But verizon forgot one thing. All the advertising can't beat a great phone. HTe 8300 is probobly one of the if not the best pone released in a long time. Its combination of durability with features and style jsut make it a great choice. I would recomend the phone to anyone looking for aeither a music phone, navigation phone, or jsut a really really good phone.

Was this review helpful? ::
34 out of 40 people found this review helpful

LG 8300 praise

As a new LG phone user ( my last was the audiovox 8600 from Verizon), I can honestly say that the new LG 8300 is a true gem in a world full of over hyped and misleading phones. The phone itself is smaller than its predessesor the LG 8100 and also comes in a very shiek smokey gun metal black color that is very executive like. The phone is quite new at the moment ( it just came out last week 6/6/06 or something like that) and limited accessories are available at the current time . I wont go on a huge description here, so ill end with saying that the front and main screens on the 8300 are so clear you'll probably want to invest in something that will protect them (when the leather case comes out with screen guard i would recommend that). Well thats enough selfless promotion... haha... but all in all iam so far VERY happy with the phone, and so far it has not given me any problems what-so-ever. I hope this brief and vague post may help some of you make a desicion.

Was this review helpful? ::
81 out of 97 people found this review helpful

Mostly good, but some drawbacks!

For the most part, this phone is more than perfect, and I would give it a five-star rating. The pros all others mentioned, the superior call quality, battery life, main LCD, mp3 player, and VZ Navigator are fantastic.

However, since I’ve used so many phones in the past (mostly LG), I think there are several aspects where they went backward with the 8300. I am now upgrading from a VX-6100, and there are so many things missing – or more difficult to control – that I took off 2 stars. And not to mention some good ideas from other manufacturers, as Motorola, that are sorely missing. Examples follow. I will try to describe the cons shortly, but with a bit explanation. (Note: English is not my first language. Please correct me if I say something wrong, and forgive me if I talk too much). I hope LG or Verizon reads this, and take note.

1) I like that in the Motorola’s phones, when charging the battery, the battery meter shows you the charging level progress, by flashing the battery bar. I can’t explain it better, but whoever of you who had a Motorola phone knows what I’m referring to. If the battery is empty, only 1 bar will flash, when 25% is done, the first bar stays lit and the second bar starts flashing, and so on. That’s a very useful idea to watch the charging progress. In LG phones, when charging battery, the bars are going on and off (1-2-3-4-off and so on). You have no idea if it’s charged 25% or 75%.

2) You can not key down an incoming call from outside of the phone (My old 6100 was also like this). The only way possible to do this is if phone is open before, and you press END twice. In my older VX-4600, if I pressed the side keys 2 times, the caller was transferred right away to the voice message. In the newer phones, LG will not allow you to do this. Sure, you can press the button to turn the ringer off, but the phone still rings silently, which means that if you accidentally open the phone about 10 seconds later, you will hear the other party screaming HELLO!!...

3) You can not switch to manner (vibrate) mode (or vice versa) from the outside keys (i.e., with phone closed)! I never experienced this in any LG phone. No idea about 8000/8100, but on all my other LG phones I was able to do that by pressing and holding the side keys. In the 8300, you have to OPEN the phone, and press the * key for 3 seconds. What an annoyance!

4) Keypad volume is very low (compared to 6100) (But gets loud if speaker is ON).

5) As some others of you complained, the front LCD goes out completely after a few seconds - not glowing slightly as most other phones. It may useful to save battery life, but that should be an option. I don’t like LG to make decisions for me.

6) Front LCD does not show you name AND NUMBER of incoming caller ID – Only the name. I like it better in the 6100 which shows you both at the same time. And since the front LCD is very pixelated (as you know already), you can not see the entire name ID... it should be at least 15-16 characters... Also, compared to the 6100, the clock in the front LCD is very tiny fonts. The 6100 had nice big clock, easy to read. I don’t need a flashing tree background – I rather need big letters on the clock.

7) Speaking of the clock, I would like to point out that in the main LCD, the digital clock is UGLY pixelated! – And for some reason, the leading zero is confusing. The 6100 was so much better... why change it, and for the worse? (in case you didn’t try it, here you go: Press OK button – > right key 2 times – 4. Display Settings – 6. Clock format – 1. Main Clock – and choose “Digital”. – isn’t it disgusting?)

User Guide almost useless. It’s basically like this: if you want to dial one, press the 1 button, for two, press the 2 button, and so on. After that, you have the same instructions in Spanish.

9) Big problem: No indicator lamp! - So you can't see while charging your phone the status of the charging, whether it's fully charged yet or not! In all my recent phones, while charging the battery, the phone (or charger) would illuminate a red indicator, and when fully recharged, a green indicator would tell me it’s done. I was able to see that from a distance away. Now if I want to see the status, I have to go to the phone, press any outside button, and see the LCD reveals me the “secret”: “Charging” or “Charging Complete”... This is so annoying!

10) End button almost not lit at night, as well as CLR & Speaker buttons. It makes txt msgs very difficult.

11) While you can change "Alert Sounds" for txt, pix & voice messages, you can't change the tone for "error", "missed call", or "speaker on/off".

12) When sending a txt msg, your Call Back number is automatically assigned after the message – you can't turn it off automatically – only manually at each message! I don’t want it. Why don’t they give me an option for that? That was never the case with my older phones!

13) Can not set brightness levels on either LCD – Also, can not change font color (both were possible to set on my previous phones).

14) Can not change stupid startup V-CAST wallpaper and startup sounds (as with other phones).

15) One of my biggest gripes is the Scheduler (calendar). I am using it almost daily, and while it was so easy on the 6100, every single step is more difficult – or impossible on the 8300. Let me explain step by step:

- a. When you set a new event, the first line is “Subject”, which is fine. I enter my words (example: “Pickup Mike from babysitter”). Next line is “Start date & time”. Who needs a start date? When I pressed “Add” I’ve already chosen a date! So now you need to press the left hot-key “SET” to set the date and time. Same goes for “End date & Time”.

- b. While setting the time, the “time now” doesn't show up, as the 6100 did. It was so helpful!

- c. Next, when setting “Reminder Alerts”, the default option is: 15 minutes before. Oh why should I need a reminder 15 minutes before? (If I want a reminder 15 minutes before, I would do “Pickup mike at 2:00” and set it to ring on 1:45!) Most people don’t need a reminder 15 minutes before. Can I change that default should be ON TIME (as the 6100 did), not 15 minutes before?

- d. Next, by setting a ringtone. The default is Ringtone 2, which is a regular ringtone (like a regular phone) and is NOT appropriate for a reminder tone. In my 6100, there was a much better tone. Now I have to change it each and every time. And you can’t change it just by selecting, but you must go into a new menu list, of “TONE” and “VIBRATION”... Why a new list? Press set again, and then return to the main scheduler menu? The 6100 was much more intuitive and logical.

- e. Now when it finally “reminds” me, it is also so different. In the 6100, I would see on the front LCD: “Scheduler: Pickup Mike”, and when I opened the phone I would see the same, plus the start and end time, and a few options. The first (and best) one “SNOOZE” (to remind me again in 5 minutes), and some more options, most importantly “ERASE” in case I don’t want the reminder anymore. In the 8300 it works like this: at 2:00 the ringtone comes up. When I look on the front LCD, I see nothing more than the word “REMINDER”... (and exit, if I need to). I try to think which appointment has to be done now? So I open the phone, just to find the wonderful option “SEE NOW” or “SEE LATER”, but still, no hint of what the reminder is for. Should I choose “SEE LATER”, it will ring again in 5 minutes. But if I wanna see what is on the agenda and choose VIEW NOW, it will show me “Pickup Mike”, but then there is NO SNOOZE option anymore, and that drives me CRZAY! (I am only able to edit manually). I can’t even ERASE it from there. I have to exit the scheduler menu completely, then go to calendar, go to today, see all my schedules, and choose the one I need, and only then if I press OPTIONS, it gives me the choice to ERASE...

16) There is only 5 contact numbers (compared to 7 on my 6100). When the Verizon guy transferred my contact list to the new phone, I lost some phone numbers, and the numbers are misplaced into category, i.e. my fathers home phone is in the work field, and vice versa.

17) A big confusion I found important mentioning on all LG phones, that the “T9Word” setting can sometimes be on the right soft button and sometimes (actually, MOST of the times) on the left side, which can really ruin your day. Most of the time, in order to change from T9word to Abc to 123 is via the left “soft-button”. However, at many applications (such as Notepad, which I use often) it is instead the RIGHT soft-key, and the left key is for “cancel” – that means that after writing 5 lines of text, and I want to change the T9word option, and mistakenly I press the left soft key, everything is canceled! It doesn’t even ask me if I wanna save it (like it does when exiting from an unsaved txt msg).

1 Another thing I noted missing from the 6100, in the 6100 when going thru the option lists, you can see the actual setting on the bottom of the LCD. Let me give you an example: Take the 8300, Go to SETTING & TOOLS (Menu, 2 times the > button), Sound Settings, you’ll see number 1 “Master Volume”. Now you can press OK and save your settings, but before entering, wouldn’t you like to see the current setting? In the 6100 you see on the bottom of the LCD, for example, HIGH, so you know that it’s on high already before changing. And if you want to choose High, you know it’s already the highest. Go further, 3 is “Alert Sound”, press OK, and you have 3 additional choices, number 1 is “TXT Message”, you can set which tone to ring when you receive a txt msg, but what tone is it set now? It doesn’t tell you until you press OK to see your selection. This is even more important at settings like On/Off (example: vibrate on/off). This is not something very annoying, but sorely missing from the older phones.

19) In the 6100, when you have 3 missed calls, the front LCD will say “3 Missed Calls”, or, if you had just 1 missed call, it would also tell you the time (1 missed call at 6:47). But in the 8300, the LCD says just “Missed Calls” but not how many, and no any time info. You must open the phone, go into missed calls section, and see there all information. ANNOYING!

20) I am also upset that there is no car charger included with the phone. No accessories at all, just a regular charger. For the price, I would like a car charger included.

Now, a suggestion if LG reads this: It would be nice to add commas at the calculator (write 1,234 instead of 1234) – Also the calendar has very small fonts (the RAZR is much better designed at that). The big “07” numbers (which indicates the current month) in the background doesn’t help either, and is confusing.

OK. Otherwise it’s a beautiful phone.

Was this review helpful? ::
89 out of 138 people found this review helpful

LG VX8300

I had this phone for about 3 months, and it seemed to be an awesome phone. i got EXCELLENT reception, not the best but very good. the battery life didnt seem like it lasted as long as the 8100 that i had, and seemed to die fast. who knows. but all in all i would give this phone 8.5 out of 10!

Was this review helpful? ::
5 out of 11 people found this review helpful

VX8300 Review

The VX 83000 is a pretty capable phone. It's not the phone it's Verizon.
The ringtones they supply are crappy. They do not allow you to get ringtones from other websites. The techs claim that the reason they do this is to avoid the problems "third party" services have. They force you to buy their ringtones. This sucks. Once again the phone is a powerful, capable phone. I'm really thinking about dropping Verizon because of this. Good phone Bad service provider

Was this review helpful? ::
20 out of 47 people found this review helpful

Its not as good as you think.

This phone isn't as good as you think. It doesnt look that good, the antenna should be internal, the color is ugly. The Bluetooth doesnt work with alot of the headsets. But there are some good things about it too, the buttons on the front makes it possible to listen to music while its closed, the camera is only a 1.3 MP, but it has some good features, the speakers are loud but not when you play music.

Pros

Plenty of features with the camera.
The Speakers are loud.
The buttons on the front control music, and make it convenient.
It has a Micro SD slot.
Vcast capabilities.
You can have 99 speed dials.


Cons

The design and color are just ugly.
You can't set recorded sounds as ringtones.
You can't set songs from your memory card as ringtones(even if you move them to your phone)
It Doesnt come with any accessories at all.
The phone is an MP3 player that doesnt play MP3s, you have to convert them to WMA, and you have to buy the software from verizon.


Bottom Line: This phone is over rated. It has the capabilities but some of the features arent there. If you have verizon, and want a Vcast phone, dont get this. Instead get the Samsung SCH 950, the 970, the 990, or the LG chocolate (vx8500), but dont end up like me, dissapointed and angry.

Was this review helpful? ::
44 out of 141 people found this review helpful

Cannot put it in your pocket

I don't use a phone as a fashion accessory; I put mine in my pocket. One would think this is a pretty common thing, but I have yet to find a phone that handles this well. The LG vx8300 was no exception. When I first got my phone I was interrupted and needed to run an errand. So I popped the phone into my jeans and jumped in the car. Every time I moved the thing beeped. It was very distracting. When I got back I took the phone out of my pocket, left the flip closed, and started pushing buttons. Every time I pushed any button the phone beeped and lit up the external display. So not only will it be distracting, but it will also waste the battery. So I scoured the manual looking for the keyguard feature. Nothing. So then I called Verizon. They said there was no keyguard, but I could lock the phone. This would require that I enter a password before I could use the phone, which was not appealing, but I tried it anyway, and the external buttons were still alive when the flip was closed. At that point I packed it up and sent it back. I exchanged it for the Moto V325. It is not perfect, but it is way better in this regard than the LG.

I will not own a phone I cannot put in my pocket.

Was this review helpful? ::
19 out of 66 people found this review helpful

ok here my opinon

vx8300 has some pretty good features but its looks could use some work like an inturnal attena. also the design is kinda plain. they need new idea to try to catch the users eye. so if u wants a cool loking phone dont get this 1. but if u want a good working phone for a good price get it.

they could also have a better camera this camera is weak and no good so there no point in taking pics with it.

Was this review helpful? ::
25 out of 140 people found this review helpful

LG took a step back with this one

Why would LG make an amazing multimedia phone (VX8100) and then turn around with a new model and blow it reputation. The new one is hardly any change from the first one and has not get anthing to great that the vx8100 didnt.

Pros:

Amazing side speakers
better inside screen
newer, yet still bad, verizon menu system
decent camera
bluetooth

Cons:

you cant read txt from the outside screen
the outside screen is smaller and worst quality
the media buttons dont light up
there are no disco flashing lights
its fat
there is no internal atenna
colors are just plain ugly

Dont get or you will regret!

Was this review helpful? ::
22 out of 136 people found this review helpful